| Home |
| Search |
| Today's Posts |
|
|
|
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Looking for that upgade to the oc-1 ww
About a year ago, I bought an Old Town Appalachian. My "home river"
is a steep creek in north GA called Amicalola creek, which has about 3.5 miles of arguably the the best whitewater in north GA. I've paddled section III of the Chatooga on an overnighter, the Telico, and the Nantahala with this boat and have become quite competent with very heavy overnight loads and of course with no load. I am 5'9" 160lb, and one day, on the Amicalola, i asked my common paddling buddy, who paddles a Dagger Ovation, if he would let me paddle his boat. I loved it! I swam in one rapid, but I was totally sold (and haven't been able to think about much else since) when I maneuvered through rock gardens with such ease. Now I'm on the serious search for a WW canoe...either a Probe12, a Probe 12 II, or an Outrage. I would like to still be able to load up for an overnighter, but I also look forward to those day trips with no loads. Suggestions would be very much appreciated. |
|
#2
|
|||
|
|||
|
Looking for that upgade to the oc-1 ww
Hey Jim NoGa rivers are my home waters too. Have you paddled the Lola
below the hwy 53 bridge? If you've gone over Edge of the World on that big ole Appy you're a better man than me ;+D I own both an Appy and also an OT Cascade which is the same design as the Appy cept 14'10" vs 16' for the Appy. Me and my buds like to ww canoe camp and it's hard to beat the Appy and Cascade for whitewater trippin'. From what I understand the Appy and Cascade are paterned after the old tried and true old design of the Chestnut Prospector which was a favorite of the well known canoeing author, film maker etc etc Bill Mason. The Appy and Cascade can take a serious load and still handle pretty durn good in Class III water . Check out a 4 day trip me and a coupla buds did last fall on the New in Wva at: http://www.mindspring.com/~pepe3/newriver/ I too am ready for a more playfull boat. My buddy owns a Whitesell Decender and I store it for him and have tried it a coupla times. I felt pretty comfortable in it right away given the wide classic Whitesell middle. Last summer I got to try an Outrage and man after driving my 2 big barges that thing felt like I was in a taco with power steering ;+D What fun!!! I'm right at the edge of the weight limit (190) for the Outrage so it felt a little small for me. I'm aiming to buy an Outrage X by next summer. The X is a foot longer and it should have enough room for overnight gear so that's a big plus for me. A few weekends ago I got to play a little in a Rival and again at my size/weight (5'11" 190lbs) it sure felt like I was pushing its capacity limits. Next time you're up at the Nanny try out a Whitesell. Coming from a big boat like the Appy it might be an easier transition cause of the wider tubier middle design. At your weight range you have lots of boats to choose from so try out as many as you can. I believe the NOC will also let you demo some boats. Since you're looking to be able to camp also check out the Dagger Caption which I believe is 14 ft'er. Can't say anything about it from personal experience other than what I've read and what folks have told me. It's a decent sized boat that still fun and playfull in white water. I've heard rumors that Dagger is not gonna make any more WW canoes. Anybody know if this is true? Good luck! (Jim) wrote in message . com... About a year ago, I bought an Old Town Appalachian. My "home river" is a steep creek in north GA called Amicalola creek, which has about 3.5 miles of arguably the the best whitewater in north GA. I've paddled section III of the Chatooga on an overnighter, the Telico, and the Nantahala with this boat and have become quite competent with very heavy overnight loads and of course with no load. I am 5'9" 160lb, and one day, on the Amicalola, i asked my common paddling buddy, who paddles a Dagger Ovation, if he would let me paddle his boat. I loved it! I swam in one rapid, but I was totally sold (and haven't been able to think about much else since) when I maneuvered through rock gardens with such ease. Now I'm on the serious search for a WW canoe...either a Probe12, a Probe 12 II, or an Outrage. I would like to still be able to load up for an overnighter, but I also look forward to those day trips with no loads. Suggestions would be very much appreciated. |
|
#4
|
|||
|
|||
|
Looking for that upgade to the oc-1 ww
Thanks Dan. You make the trip last that long by only paddling 6 to 8
miles a day and staying at camps more than one day. When we hit a nice site we like to hang out sleep late, fish and explore the land and do some photography. Besides the exploring and other fun stuff it breaks the monotony of pack and unpack every day. Actually we we're gonna go for 5 days cept it rained 3 of the 4 days and the levels kept rising and our weather radios said the temps were gonna drop another 10 deg and heavier rains were on the way. We put in at 2.5 ft and when I checked the gauges the day after we took out it was in the 3.5 range. On our last day the rain were something fierce and there were sudden gusts of wind that would side swipe our boats like a floating leaf. I remember lining up on the tongue to enter Silo (I think that was the rapids name) and a gust of wind came and slid me side ways to a big drop. My boat noseed dived and was half way swamped and I still had to go at least what seemed like a 100+ yds of 3 + ft wave trains. With the boat half full of water plus all the gear it took all I had to keep the boat head into the waves so I would dump. Whew!! ;+D As far a put ins and take outs I'm not really sure of the names but I think we put in at Sandstone aiming to take out at Thurmond. Does that sound right? (Dan Valleskey) wrote in message . com... On 10 Sep 2003 18:55:13 -0700, (Pepe) wrote: snipsnip... handle pretty durn good in Class III water . Check out a 4 day trip me and a coupla buds did last fall on the New in Wva at: http://www.mindspring.com/~pepe3/newriver/ Nice pictures! How did you turn the New into a 4 day trip? How far up is it possible to put in? Where did you take out? As to the rumor that Dagger is getting out of the WW canoe bidness- check out the thread in rec.boats.paddle about royalex wearing out. Could soft Royalex be a factor for them? -Dan |
|
#5
|
|||
|
|||
|
Looking for that upgade to the oc-1 ww
Very cool photos, Pepe. Nice presentation of them, too. Really cool
to hear from a fellow Lola paddler. Yes, the old "Appy" has fallen off the Edge of the World many times. I've only owned a boat for a year, but have been paddling with my friend and his 16'-i-don't-know-what for several years, although I've paddled much more frequently in the past year. I wouldn't call myself a "better man," though, because it's quite the contrary. We started young and were too dumb to know better. So I've pretty much mastered the Edge in a large boat just out of foolishness. You should have seen that big ole thing on Bull Sluice and Jarrod's Knee...must have been quite a sight judging from people's reactions. But it is a very very stable boat. I too considered the OutrageX. It looks ideal. But after I thought more about it, I decided that I would probably still take the old Appy on overnighters and maybe get a Probe 12 II and use it on my day trips. The probe seems like it would still be a pretty good ride after the rapids are over and I settle into the Etowah portion of the lower Lola. I know I should paddle a few different types of boats at the Nanny, and maybe I will, but I don't get up that far north very often and I'm getting a little anxious for a smaller boat. Thanks for the input. |
|
#6
|
|||
|
|||
|
Looking for that upgade to the oc-1 ww
Thanks Jim. We have some great photos including the Lola of most if
not all the WW rivers in No ga and nearby states. When I get some time and we catalog our pixs we're gonna put up a site with slide shows for all the rivers. I'm hoping I get enough time soon to put together a slide show of another 4 day trip we did on the Big South Fork this spring. Have you ever done Talking Rock creek? It's a great overnight trip and an absolutly beautifull river. I am the StreamKeeper on the AWA site for Talking Rock and maintain a page there with links to pixs from an overnighter a coupla year back. Check out the page at: http://www.americanwhitewater.org/rivers/id/503/ Man that's gotta be a sight to see that big Appy going over Edge of the World!! Do you have any outfitting or flotation in that Appy? I have small float bags fore and aft and have a kneeling thwart in the middle for soloing. I still keep the seats in it for the occasional tandem with newbie friends. I've yet to paddle below hwy 53 mostly because I thought it would be crazy to try that in my big boats but now you've inpired me or maybe its some kinda form of contagious insanity.......;+D It don't look like a fun place to swim if you dump after the first drop. I'm trying to get up to Sec III of the Toog in the next coupla weeks. I tell ya I'm hankering for a small boat too but I sure do love paddling my big boats. Lately I've been working on mastering paddling more standing up and I'm looking to get me a 6 ft paddle soon. (Jim) wrote in message om... Very cool photos, Pepe. Nice presentation of them, too. Really cool to hear from a fellow Lola paddler. Yes, the old "Appy" has fallen off the Edge of the World many times. I've only owned a boat for a year, but have been paddling with my friend and his 16'-i-don't-know-what for several years, although I've paddled much more frequently in the past year. I wouldn't call myself a "better man," though, because it's quite the contrary. We started young and were too dumb to know better. So I've pretty much mastered the Edge in a large boat just out of foolishness. You should have seen that big ole thing on Bull Sluice and Jarrod's Knee...must have been quite a sight judging from people's reactions. But it is a very very stable boat. I too considered the OutrageX. It looks ideal. But after I thought more about it, I decided that I would probably still take the old Appy on overnighters and maybe get a Probe 12 II and use it on my day trips. The probe seems like it would still be a pretty good ride after the rapids are over and I settle into the Etowah portion of the lower Lola. I know I should paddle a few different types of boats at the Nanny, and maybe I will, but I don't get up that far north very often and I'm getting a little anxious for a smaller boat. Thanks for the input. |
|
#7
|
|||
|
|||
|
Looking for that upgade to the oc-1 ww
Have you ever done Talking Rock creek? It's a great overnight trip and
an absolutly beautifull river. Do you have any outfitting or flotation in that Appy? Pepe, I saw the pics at aw.org, and you are quite the photographer. I have wondered about Talking rock before and wanted to try it. Are there good stretches of class II/III or only a few rapids spread out? And are there multiple put-ins and take-outs, or does it have to be a long trip? About my outfitting, I've taken out the rear seat (which is in the front since I paddle the boat backwards) and put in a large float bag with an aprin over it to avoid scooping water when I drop into pools. I have a kneeling pad just behind center and get up into my seat and paddle when I'm not in rough water. |
|
#8
|
|||
|
|||
|
Looking for that upgade to the oc-1 ww
Pepe, I saw the pics at aw.org, and you are quite the photographer.
Thanks Jim I have a background in Fine Art photography and have worked as a pro in advertizing and architectural photography but it's been quite a few years since I've done any photography for a living with any regularity. All the photography you've seen is all done with a point and shoot Pentax WR90 and of course I tweaked the images in Photoshop. Recently I bought a waterproof enclosure so I can take my Nikon but it's still quite bulky and cumbersome to take on the river. It's pretty hard to beat the WR90 for convenience, rugedness, waterproofness in a small package to hang from my PFD. I have wondered about Talking rock before and wanted to try it. Are there good stretches of class II/III or only a few rapids spread out? And are there multiple put-ins and take-outs, or does it have to be a long trip? About my outfitting, I've taken out the rear seat (which is in the front since I paddle the boat backwards) and put in a large float bag with an aprin over it to avoid scooping water when I drop into pools. I have a kneeling pad just behind center and get up into my seat and paddle when I'm not in rough water. Most of the decent rapids are after about the half way point which is where the cliffs and Talking Rock Rapids are located and from what I understand those cliffs are "Talking Rock". The highest I've ever done it is like 2.6 and the rapids are very tame and I don't know if I would classify any of them above II+ at that level. On the other hand down at the bottom of my AWA page some other fellow posted some images of TRock rapids at 4+ feet and it looks quite fun. There are 2 put ins listed in one of the No. Ga canoeing guides by Sehlinger and Otey. I've only used the one listed on the map link I have on the AWA site. From what I understand to put in at the higher one it has to be running near the 3 ft range and it's not very scenic and it's fairly populated. As far as take outs there are none listed in the books I've looked at or have heard of other than going all the way to the HWY 136 take out at the lake. I've traced the distance in my Topo and total trip to the lake take out is 14 miles. It's generally a 6 hour trip at an easy pace with lunch and pee/stretch stops. Some one once told me that they took out before the flat last coupla miles. ther's generally pretty good head winds on those flats. They took out on private land. Someone they were with knew the folks that owned the land. So short of knowing someone with some land up there it's a 14 mile, 6hr +/- paddle The trip is definetly worth it but I much prefer it as an overnighter. I never use the seats in the Appy even with the boat backwards when soloing. The boat gets very bow light and doesn't track very well and if theres a little wind then it's extra dificult to paddle straight because of the weather cocking. I have found that the most efficient way to paddle the Appy in flat water is Canadian style which is where you kneel just aft of center and shift the weight and your knees to your "on side" this in effect tilts the boat to your on side and the boat chine becomes sort of a keel line. This helps to track better plus puts you closer to the gunwales where you don't hafta reach out as far to keep your paddle perpendicular to the water and keeps your corrective strokes to a minimum.I'm not sure about this but I believe it also minimizes the boat to watercontact area offering less resistance. I'm my New river pix page there are a coupla shots that my bud took of me in my red Cascade from behind where you see my boat heavily listing to the left. I you haven't yet tried this give it a go and you'll be surprised at the difference of how the Appy will paddle in flat water. Having a kneeling thwart near mid boat is great for this type of paddling. |
|
#9
|
|||
|
|||
|
Looking for that upgade to the oc-1 ww
|
Hybrid Mode
